A very intersting Fourth of July ride

[kajero]

My SO and I went riding on a trail near the Missouri River in Bismarck, ND. this weekend. And on the trail we saw two hump backed camels!!! Who ever heard of camels in North Dakota.

Only one is pictured here.

[DonnaS]

Welcome to Bismarck! PM me if you will be in the area longer and want a riding companion.
Donna S

[ny biker]

Wow. Don't the winters get really cold in North Dakota? Can camels handle the cold? Perhaps they are just summering in North Dakota and will fly south for the winter???

[Bike Writer]

Who ever heard of camels in Michigan, but I have a friend who has a farm and raises them. We have a similar climate as you do, so yes, it does seem odd for them to be in our states.

[TrekDianna]

We have a few here in Oregon that I've seen

[OakLeaf]

Fun! We used to ride by a pair of zebras in Ohio.

[thekarens]

We ride by a property that has a whole host of African wildlife. Last week we saw zebras, this week we saw some type of gazelle. We've also seen Oryx there. It's very cool and one of the favorite parts of the route for me.

[Crankin]

Wow, I only see regular farm animals: cows, sheep, horses. Then there's the unexpected wildlife that scares the sh!t out of me, as they jump across the road, in front of my bike (deer, fox).
I do see llamas and alpacas, occasionally. One of our TE members has a few on her property, and there seems to be a whole group of people who are raising llamas in that part of the woods.

[OakLeaf]

On both those counts, I do know of a family who keeps alpacas on their property in Florida and trucks them all "up north" with them for the summer. Can you say "agricultural exemption?"

By us, the Andean boom has pretty much fizzled out. Remember all those alpacainfo.com ads on TV? You still see a few, but nowadays it's goats. Everyone has goats. Probably a combination of the influx of immigrants whose traditional diet includes goat meat, a greater demand for goat milk products, and the fact that goats can run on terrain that's not suitable for either tillage or a lot of other livestock.

[Bike Writer]

I'm really not sure of the difference between llamas and alpacas, but here are critters in a farm within bicycling distance of my home.



That photo was from early spring 2012.

This one is from spring of this year

[kajero]

Maybe we need a thread for "Unique/Interesting things we have seen on a ride"